Truth or Dare
by polysgirl
Summary: Steph is on stakeout with Ranger...and bored.


I'm absolutely exhausted and this is the last thing I should have done, and I wrote it in, like, 15 minutes…because I'm dying for more AWT. I need happy. I need a bedtime story.

Don't expect much, I wrote it fast and I've been pulling extremely long – as in 20hour ish – days in total.

* * *

"Babe."

Ranger's voice effectively haulted me mid-drum. I had been drumming my fingers on the armrest of the car door, getting antsier by the minute. We'd been sitting in this car for days, and I couldn't handle it anymore.

"It's only been 45 minutes." Ranger's amused voice broke through my mental whining.

"The longest 45 minutes of my life." I complained. Ranger's lips curved up into a hint of a smile, and he went back to focussing on the house we were watching.

I hated being on stakeout. It was boring, often useless, and there was no food in the Explorer except for a few carrot sticks, and no unhealthy drinks to speak of. A person couldn't live like this for ten minutes, let alone the hours we were going to be in this stupid vehicle. I couldn't remember why the hell I had agreed to come sit with Ranger - it wasn't even one of my skips. Oh yeah. Maybe it had something to do with that fight with Morelli the night before, and knowing this would piss him off. Everything pissed Morelli off lately. It was almost a relief to be with Ranger, if I was honest to myself. Nothing pissed Ranger off. Not enough to make him yell...at least, nothing that I knew about. I wondered, though, if something did piss Ranger off... My fingers had started drumming against the window as I contemplated things that might piss Ranger off enough to make him be nasty. I could ask him, I supposed, but probably he would just say "Babe." And not answer.

"Babe." He said, reaching out and capturing my hand in his, effectively stopping my musical window-noise talent.

"Truth or dare." I said. I felt a shiver of surprise run through his fingers, and he twisted in his seat to look at me.

"Truth." He told me, one eyebrow raised.

"What pisses you off the most?"

"I don't let anything piss me off."

"But if you did..."

"Knowing the cop fucks you."

Oh. I wasn't sure I wanted to go down that road, so I sank back in my seat and huffed a sigh. I wondered how long it would take for the asshole we were staking out to make an appearance so I could buy a dozen boston cremes, and wondered what I was supposed to do while we waited. I almost didn't hear him when Ranger said, rather absently,

"Truth or dare."

"Truth." I blurted out, before he could change his mind about continuing.

"Why are you still bounty hunting?"

"What do you mean?" Did he think I should quit too? I narrowed my eyes.

"You're smart and personable. You could easily get a job - a good job, a career. Why are you choosing not to?"

Because I wouldn't get to see him anymore. "It's too normal. Normal is boring." I settled for answering.

"You said truth." Ranger reminded me, his gaze piercing mine. I'd forgotten that he saw through my white lies.

"I'd miss my friends." I told him. His eyebrows slanted up. "ALL of them." I amended. "And it pisses Morelli off."

"I'm in favor of anything that pisses Morelli off." Ranger grinned. I opened my mouth to ask him his choice, but before I could, he said "Truth."

This was gonna be great, I could sense it. I could find out all sorts of things about the man of mystery. "What's your most embarassing moment? And you're not allowed to lie. And it has to be your MOST embarassing moment."

"Babe."

"No lying, no being evasive, and no Babe-ing."

"My most embarassing moment..." He trailed off, and looked at me.

"Ranger." I warned.

"Telling you my most embarassing moment."

"Oh, come on."

Ranger let out the closest thing to a sigh as I'd ever heard. "When I was 22, my grandmother caught me wacking off."

I knew my jaw dropped, and Ranger's face darkened ever so slightly. "You can't really tell me no woman was in line ready to help you with that problem." I blurted.

"None I was willing to accomodate." He said, his tone one of finality.

"What about now?"

"Are you offering your assistance?"

"I'll take truth." I said, happily skirting around that question.

"Your greatest fear."

"Being trapped by everyone else's expectations." Living the burg life. Marrying Joe. Being trapped in a life my mother wants, and wants for me, not the one I want. But I couldn't tell him that. "Truth or dare." I said quickly, catching him before he could berate me for once again not giving him a full answer.

"You copped out." He chided me. "Truth."

"Your biggest regret."

Ranger's eyes went distant. "It happened on a classified mission I can't discuss."

"Would you if you could?"

"No. I told you once there are things you don't want to know about me."

That wasn't true. I did want to know. He just didn't want me to know. But I got the feeling that if I pushed it, he'd quit the game and I'd be back to bored and lose out my chance to learn more about Ranger. "Truth."

"Why're you with the cop?"

I opened my mouth much like a fish gulping in open air, and tried to think of something to say. What could I tell him that...wasn't true, per say, but that wasn't a lie, either? "I... Because he's comfortable." I admitted. "And it keeps my mom off my case. And it's better than being alone."

"And that's enough?" he asked, his gaze piercing mine.

"Truth or dare." I shook my head sharply.

"Truth."

"Are you close to your family?"

"As close as I let myself be."

"That's not a real answer."

"Babe. You haven't been real forthright yourself." He pointed out. I had to give him that one. "Truth or dare."

I wasn't sure I'd like his next question, and I did know he wouldn't let me get away with another half-assed answer. "Dare." I hedged.

His eyes flashed to mine, and he looked at me a long moment before his lips curved up into a chesire-like grin. "Go to Morelli's tonight. End it. Take the leap off that ledge you keep looking down from, and do something for yourself, for once."

"Just for myself?" And why the hell would I want to end it, and be alone.

His eyes darkened, and something akin to tenderness crept into his eyes. "For us. End it, and come to me."

"And then?"

"You're mine."

"And?"

"I'm yours."

"And?" There was no way it was going to be that simple.

"And then you'll be with someone for more than comfortable and a free pass to your mother's kitchen."

"But you don't do relationships." I pointed out.

"My life doesn't lend itself to them. I'm willing to try if you are. If you are, end it with the cop." His eyes cut to a flash of movement outside the vehicle. "That's our guy, Let's roll."


End file.
